ME 3: Am I in command?
by Servala
Summary: The should do a quick shuttle mission, but exept james no one wants to accompany Jane Shepard. And she wonders why


Title: am I in command?

Author: written and translated by Servala, corrected by Niorah  
Game: Mass Effect 3  
characters/pairing: Jane Shepard/ Liara T´Soni  
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and its assets belong to Electronic Arts and BioWare.  
No copyright infringement intended.

****

There were days when Commander Shepard wondered if she really actually was in command of the Normandy. The mission that awaited them was not difficult, they had to pick up a few scientists with the shuttle. Yet she needed, according to the rules, two members of her squad, which would accompany her.

Tali and Ashley were working on a project and had clearly indicated that it would be impossible to stop now, and that it would be tantamount to an intergalactic disaster. Shepard couldn't help an evil suspicion that what they really wanted was to get drunk and watch Hanar poetry over the extra-net.

EDI with her fancy new body pointed to the surrounding storms. She explained that there would be a need for her to entirely concentrate on the flight and that she had to run some runtime procedures. Shepard did not believe her. EDI could handle millions of queries at once, but she wasn´t able to prove it.

Asking Garrus was useless too. "Do you want to fire a non-calibrated weapon in a fight?" Shepard had sighed and shaken her head. Of course she did not want to.

Somehow, so far only James had been thrilled. "When we can start Lola?" He only asked happily and then he went on with his training.

Did really no one else would love a lovely shuttle flight with her?

"EDI? Is Dr. T'Soni in her cabin?" Liara would not let her down. "Commander, I respect the privacy of the crew members and cannot give you that information." Shepard was grinding her teeth. "EDI ... I do not want to know what she is doing, only if she is there." Sometimes Shepard regretted that their ship was an artificial, perfectly self-conscious intelligence. "Dr. T'Soni is located in her cabin." Shepard thought that she must have imagined the offended tone.

She tried to open the door to the cabin of the Asari, but it was blocked. "Shepard?" Liara's voice came over intercom. "Yes, Doctor," the door opened slowly. "What the ..." Shepard was standing in amazement. All monitors flickered and showed brisk activity. Glyph raced around in the cabin and seemed to work at the edge of its capacity.

The commander had to crouch. "Um, I need you in half an hour" Liara looked at her with a terribly annoyed expression. "Shepard, I cannot ... but please ask Tali or Ashley if they can accompany you on this mission." The commander would not admit that she had already done this. No she would not.

"Dr. T'Soni, I need you in half an hour down in the Shuttle-bay!" Liara smiled at her, "Commander, I'm sorry, but I have to lead a conference about the research on the crucible." She looked seriously at Shepard. "I can really not spend an hour to fly around, only to pick up some people!"

Then the commander felt dismissed. Liara had turned again to her terminal, ignoring Shepard completely. Glyph nearly flew directly in her direction and she had to dodge it again. Shepard sighed and went down to Deck Five.

"I expect every squad member in three minutes at the shuttle." She said coolly over loudspeakers.

She really expected to see only James, but it seemed that she still had some authority on board.

"Can one of you tell me what's going on with you? Now! LC, I could accuse you of subordination and throw you out of my ship, release you from the Alliance, I could throw all of you out of my ship." EDI gave her a strange sound, but Shepard ignored her. At least Garrus and Ashley seemed to feel a bit of guilt and looked down. Tali almost crept behind the Turian and Liara tried to look as invisible as possible behind a datapad.

"Well, I expect an explanation why you refuse to accompany me on this mission!"

The four looked unhappily at each other and sighed. Finally, it was Tali who found the courage and answered:

"Cortez is sick and that means, that you will be doing the flying."


End file.
